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March 17, 2015

How To Encourage Your Kids To Draw

Since the age of three, he
started to draw. There are times I cannot figure out what are in his paper pads
until he claims it to be cars, trees, flowers, and even his favorite super
heroes like Iron Man and Spider Man.

Naalala ko tuloy ang “The Little Prince”. A kid draws something and asks adults what it
is. All replied it was a hat. But the kid told then it was a boa constrictor
that ate an elephant.

With this here are some tips I
can share on how to develop your kid’s ability to draw based from own
experience.

Introduce at young age.

Learning at young age is a good
option. This will help them develop their grip on writing instruments.

As early as age of two, we
introduced pen and papers to Matt. Also, one of her Ninangs send a Mega
Sketchers where he started to develop his drawing skills.

Restrain disappointments.

We, parents, are the main model
of our kids. Show them that you are confident in your drawings even you are not
good in this area. When they approach you and asked to draw something, telling
“Hindi ko kaya yan. (I can’t draw
that)” in front of them is a NO-NO.

Drawing is not my forte but when
Matt asked me to draw Iron Man or the members of Avengers; I tried to do it kahit malayo sa katotohanan. I observed
that as I draw, he take a very close look as I draw. He is getting every detail
of what I did. After few minutes, he will do it by himself and copied what I
drew.

The Avengers (Matt's Drawing)

Appreciate their work.

Giving appreciation with their
work is one of the best encouragement that you can give your kids. However, you
should not end up by saying: “Ang ganda
naman nyan!” (That’s very nice!) or “Ang
galing mo naman!” (You did great!) but try to elaborate what you want to
say.

In this drawing, have you
noticed why Iron Man is lying above the other members of Avengers? His
explanation is: “Lumilipad si Iron Man”.
Instead of commenting, “Ang galing mo
naman”, Mommy and I will simply tell him, “Wow! Ang galing naman ni Iron Man, lumilipad pa!” Then we will
give some suggestions like “Lagyan mo pa
ng clouds at birds para talagang lumilipad sya.”

Iron Man and Spiderman

Let them explore.

Kids are very curious about many
things. This is part of their development. Like in drawing, let them use things
other than pencil and crayons. Try to incorporate using other things like
watercolors, modelling clays and color pens. Use non-toxic materials for
safety.

Now, we are only using crayons
and pens. We are thinking of getting him watercolors for him to explore his
skills this summer vacation.

Another is to let him do other
means to draw. For example, have a subject to copy.

Iron Man as his Model

Use instructional videos

Having such learning tools will
also help. There are lots of such videos in Youtube.

Just like the other day, Mommy
and I were surprised how he draw Lightning McQueen. Parang nagdoo-doodle lang. Her Tita Rona told us he got those
techniques by watching Youtube in TV. By the way, watching Youtube is a reward
for taking home two big stars from school. Look at the video below.